The Jungle NYC Reviews and Tickets

88%

(123 Reviews)

Positive

98%

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Absorbing, Great acting, Relevant, Great staging, Thought-provoking

About the Show

St. Ann’s Warehouse presents this acclaimed work from London which brings to life the powerful, short-lived, self-governing society of the jungle, a refugee camp in northern France.

The play is a remembrance of the now bulldozed camp in Calais, France known as the Jungle, where thousands of refugees who had escaped drought, war, and strife-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East waited for their “good chance” passage to Britain. With minimal resources in the squalid, sprawling landfill-turned-makeshift-camp, immigrants and committed volunteers built a warm, self-governing, diverse society—with restaurants, shops, a school, a church—from nothing.

Member Reviews (123)

Great acting, Great staging, Great writing, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if an exceedingly timely and relevant play about refugees. A must see. Exceptional staging, direction, and acting.

Don't see it if you can't sit uncomfortably for almost 3 hours in chairs/benches/floors. Read more

Absorbing, Clever, Relevant, Resonant, Thought-provoking

See it if An important eye opening play. Really absorbs you into the setting. Performances are extremely realistic. Great production.

Don't see it if You aren't willing to sit for almost 3 hours in unconventional seating. In the end it's worth it however the show could be a little shorter

Moving, Engrossing, Loud, Earnest, Powerful

See it if you'd like to "live" in a Fr refugee camp for 3 hrs. By the end, you'll care abt many chars. And you'll be frustrated w 1st world countries.

Don't see it if you dislike shouting, flashlights in eyes, depressing stories, untradl staging (in the round on platforms). But strong acting, impt message.

Profound, Relevant, Great acting, Absorbing, Riveting

See it if You want to be totally absorbed into the world of the refugees and experience a dramatic immersive powerful show that will stay with you.

Don't see it if You’re a fan of the ridiculous Orange One in the White House and his policies of caging children and removing them from their families. Read more

Ambitious, Great acting, Great writing, Intelligent

See it if A well acted story about the refugee crisis in Europe.

Don't see it if You do not like de er p dramatic plays. If you want a musical or a lighter type show

Compelling, Well staged, Great acting, One big plot flaw

See it if You want an in the round experience of a compelling refugee story with strong performances. One big plot flaw hurt it (see more).

Don't see it if You don’t like odd non proscenium spaces. My seat hurt after a while. And by gosh RUN to coat check after or you’ll be there forever. Read more

Relevant, Dizzying, Heartbreaking, Immersive, Thought-provoking

See it if Creative set & staging immerses the audience in a doomed makeshift refugee camp. Unique multi-cultural experience.

Don't see it if Non-linear story with partially developed characters. Intentionally chaotic & noisy. Uncomfortable seating for 3 hrs. Read more

Absorbing, Ambitious, Clever, Thought-provoking, Relevant

See it if you're into immersive theater, concerned about the refugee & immigration crisis globally, see the creation of an onstage community

Don't see it if you don't like sitting on benches or platforms in the midst of action, sprawling stories with overlapping dialogue, loud noises & voices Read more

Critic Reviews (23)

"The show summons, with uncanny clarity, the vigorous chaos from which a provisional order gradually emerges...There is tension, of course, and apprehension and suspicion...But the clashes are often comic, and the pure energy of actors creating a world of people creating a world of their own is exhilarating...A work of absorbing theater, which uses the immediacy of that art to conjure the paradoxes and confusions of a world dealing with an unprecedented flux of uprooted lives."
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"If you’re looking for effortless exposition or delicate characterization, this nearly three-hour immersive play won’t afford it. It’s not artful as a piece of drama; rather, it’s a deliberate cacophony of voices...The piece is impressive, and it has moments of virtuosity, especially in the music...But when the gorgeously openhearted gesture of making theater for refugees turns into a show for the wealthy about refugees, part of its moral beauty slips away."
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"It's a stunning feat of design, but it's not the only aspect that makes this marvelously realized production...essential viewing...The work packs a powerful punch in the current political era...The play's writing sometimes lacks cohesion and feels manipulative, making it not always as artful as the production. But 'The Jungle' nonetheless registers with a throbbing authenticity only amplified by the superb performances of the large, multinational ensemble and the virtuosic immersive staging."
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"In spite of exquisite design and a substantial production, the play itself is shaky...Despite extreme efforts at verisimilitude, a noble purpose, and a vitally important subject, the storytelling comes across as heavy-handed...substituting atmosphere for dramaturgy...It’s devastating to spend all this time in a room with these characters and in this place, and emerge knowing less than when we went in. Disillusion may be part of the point, but it also feels like a lost opportunity."
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"Anyone who is capable of a scintilla of human decency could not help but be moved by the human face this intense and powerfully immersive play puts on people fleeing oppression in their homelands...To be sure, the two-hour, 45-minute production has its excesses...The drama’s success in imbuing with personality those trapped in the camp...may be its most important achievement. No weak link exists in the 18-member ensemble, and some actors offer particularly vivid accounts."
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“An emotionally jarring production that has been transplanted from London's Young Vic...vibrates with truth through every flattering and unflattering circumstance surrounding a momentary epicenter of Europe's refugee crisis. Led by directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the piece is more an experience than a play, physically and psychologically rebuilding a slice of life to ultra-realistic effect in the middle of Dumbo, Brooklyn."
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"Under the direction of Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, none of these fine actors -- nor anyone else in the company -- ring a false note, even as they scatter through the audience, performing tense and intimate scenes inches away from the viewers...To see 'The Jungle' right now is to experience the forces of history in a way that happens in the theatre only rarely...As this towering work makes clear, mercy must come first."
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"This is not merely the story of a triumphant theatrical production. 'The Jungle' is living history, which would make it impressive enough. But the method of the piece inserts 'we, the people,' literally into the action...Patrons are not merely presented with an impassioned representation of this monstrous refugee camp...we are plunked inside the story, inside the migrant camp...The most riveting moments come from John Pfumojena as Okot, the 17-year-old refugee from Darfur."
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